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A year ago we at HooPs, excited to start the 2013-2014 season previewed and highlighted last year’s season with excitement on the following:
– the Battle in the Western Conference
– Weighed on the chances of the Heat three-peat
– Return of Derrick Rose
– And the draft class of the summer of 2014

Some things haven’t changed and some have.

The West is conceivably just as deep as it was a year ago. There are 7 or 8 teams that have championship aspirations. There may be as many as 12 Western teams that could make the playoffs if they were in the Eastern conference.

Derrick Rose is set to return “AGAIN”. Wish him a healthy season.

The Heat failed to three-peat while The Spurs hoist their 5th championship of the Duncan era. Now on to the 2014-2015 season.

New Faces in New PlacesJeremy Lin in Los Angeles. Chandler Parsons in Dallas. Trevor Ariza in Houston. Jason Terry in Houston. LeBron JAMES BACK IN CLEVELAND! Chris Bosh stays in Miami. Pao Gasol in Chicago. Luol Deng in Miami. Kevin Love in CLEVELAND. Lance Stephenson to Charlotte. Melo stays in New York. Who else of importance? Paul Pierce to the Wizards. And the Spurs still have their big 3 and the best coach in the league. Favorites? Yes!

How the West was WonThe West is better than ever. We say that every year but chew on this. The top 3 teams in the West in no particular order are Spurs, Thunder and Clippers. The next 3 are Warriors, Blazers and Grizzlies again in no particular order. Only 2 of these 6 teams will make the playoffs: Rockets, Mavericks, Suns, Kings and Nuggets and Timberwolves.
It’s possible that 10 teams in the West will have winning records. To get into the playoffs may require 50 wins this season in the loaded West!
(Last year, Dallas won 49 games as the 8th seed)

Opening Night: October 28, 2014Three games slated for Tuesday, 10/28/2014
Magic vs Pelicans
and then 2 games on TNT. First the Mavericks visit the Spurs for a Texas showdown and then the Rockets visit the Lakers in the late night game.
In game 2, Kobe Bryant plays against Dwight Howard and Jeremy Lin plays against his former team.

Championship Contenders

East–

Cleveland. Any team with LeBron James, who is widely regarded as the best player on the planet, is an instant title contender. Now add Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Shawn Marion, Mike Miller, Dion Waiters, Anderson Varejao and James Jones. First you had my interest, now you have my attention! (Django Unchained)

All other eastern conference teams are playing for third place with Raptors and Wizards likely to round out the top 4.

West–
Spurs – Embark on their first “successful” title defense.
Clippers and Chris Paul – Hope to get to CP3’s first ever Conference Finals.
Thunder – Plan to weather the storm till reigning MVP Kevin Durant returns.
Warriors, Mavericks, Rockets and Grizzlies – Wish to join the elite of the West and make deep playoff runs.

Let’s get it Started!
Welcome to the 2014-2015 NBA season.
May the best team win!

Monday night March 18th, the world witnessed a wildly entertaining pre-March madness, playoff-intense battle between the visiting Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.

Let’s appropriately set the stage: The game begins with a recorded Paul Pierce interview in the tunnel “I don’t care if the Miami Heat lose every game the rest of the season. I hope they lose every game this season!” The NBA always has amazing story lines! 5 years to the day that the Houston Rockets 22 game streak ended (3/18/2008), the Heat and Celtics meet with the Celtics primed to be the league’s best streak-breaker AGAIN.

This game had all the makings of a postseason game. A rivalry between perennial enemies. Boston having won 11 straight home games. Miami chasing NBA history having won their previous 22 games and seeking second place all time with 23 consecutive wins. Something had to give. The Celtics started the game hot and Miami fell behind double digits.

Skip forward to the 4th quarter… The HEAT have out scored their opponents in the 23 game win streak in “clutch time” (meaning less than 5 mins to go and score within 5 points) By a whopping 145 to 75!

I feel compelled to steal a line from sporting news: “with the Celtics up 13 points on the Heat with just 8 minutes left in the game, it appeared the Celtics were about to end Miami’s 22 game winning streak UNTIL LeBron James did what LeBron James does.” Dare I say, BEASTMODE.

Its clear the talents and ability that King James bring to the Heat. 35 points, 7 rebounds and 10 assists versus the Celtics on Monday night. The eighteenth(18th) 35 and 10 performance of his career. He is shooting near 60% in the Heat’s 23 game win streak to go with about 8 rebounds and 7 assists approximately. And night in and night out, he is the best player on the floor.

Mario Chalmers scored a huge 21 points on 4 for 5 three point shooting.

Dwyane Wade added 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Lingering question: How would the Celtics have faired if their defensive and emotional leader Kevin Garnett had played? We will never know unfortunately.

In other news: Jeff Green had the best game of his career scoring a career high 43 points in an efficient 14 for 21 shooting with 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocks. 26 points in the first half on 9 for 12 shooting.

Avery Bradley is pretty impressive defensively. The chase down block at the rim on Norris Cole was something to see.

In the end, LeBron James was the difference hitting the shot of the night over Jeff Green with 10 seconds to go.

Miami Heat will win the East and is my pick to win back to back championships. Go ahead and Crown them 2013 NBA Champions. Can the Western conference champ beat Miami?

Yes, San Antonio has a chance. So does OKC. But I think the Heat will win against either. The West is ultra competitive and the winner will be either be severely bruised OR primed, ready and battle-tested.

Where will their historic win streak end? 25 wins? 29 wins? 35? My prediction is that they will win 27 and lose to the Chicago Bulls on the road on March 27th.